#125: The Enduring Appeal of The Great Gatsby with Maureen Corrigan

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2015

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When the Great Gatsby was originally published in 1925, it was a complete critical and commercial flop. It wasn't until after F. Scott Fitzgerald's death that it gained the status of the Great American Novel and it's appeal still endures today. On today's show, I talk to Maureen Corrigan about her book "So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures." We discuss how Gatsby is one of the first hard-boiled novels of the 20th century, why Gastsby still appeals to us today, and what you can do to get more out of your next reading of the Great Gatsby.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm not sure if I can get it right.
0:15.1	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:18.3	So in my all time favorite novels, this is the great Gatsby.
0:20.5	I know it's cliche, but every time I've read it and I've read it multiple times since
0:23.5	high school, I've always found some new insights, some new symbolism that I hadn't seen before.
0:27.6	And it's just a fun, fun read.
0:30.2	Anyways, when the great guest first came out, it was a complete critical and commercial
0:34.5	failure.
0:35.5	And it wasn't until after Escot Fitzgerald died that it started gaining the status of the
0:39.8	great American novel and it became required reading for high school English students.
0:44.6	But I guess they want to figure out why that was.
0:46.6	Why it took so long for the great Gatsby to become the sort of cultural touchstone in
0:52.2	the United States.
0:53.2	And then why the book still endorsed a decade later.
0:56.1	A book written about the 1920s prohibition era America.
1:00.2	Why that story still resonates with us even the 21st century.
1:04.0	Our guest is Maureen Corrigan.
1:05.5	She's a lecturer at Georgetown University.
1:07.2	You've probably heard her in PR's Fresh Air where she's the resident book critic.
1:11.0	And her book is called So We Read On How The Great Gatsby Came To Be In White Endors.
1:15.8	And in this podcast, we're discussing all things Gatsby.
1:19.1	So let's do this.
	...

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